Martha Stewart Apprentice - Week 4

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It's about time Dawn got the boot. I couldn't stand another second of her whining and complaining. Has she not watched previous episodes of the Apprentice? If she couldn't handle pulling an all-nighter, she shouldn't have wasted everyone's time by applying for the show. Thank goodness she's gone.

If it wasn't for Dawn's outrageous behavior, I think Leslie would have gotten fired last night. She had gumption for volunteering to lead Team Loser, but she was crazy to waste six hours coming up with a theme.I liked the idea of a zen-type suite where business travelers can recharge, but, in the end, it just looked like a nicely designed space. There didn't seem to be any accessories related to the idea of flow and water. They could have easily picked up a little water fountain and one of those desk-top sandbox things to drive the theme home. For that reason, even if the couches had arrived, I still don't think they would have won, even though the FLOW concept was much classier and Martha-like than Primarius's entertainment theme. (Martha and Alexis clearly thought the popcorn maker was a bit low-brow.)

I'm not a huge Amanda fan, and that inspirational pencil thing was pretty cheesy, but I have to give her credit for being a good leader. When the decor turned out to be a disaster (that moldy-looking wallpaper in the bathroom was disgusting), she kept the team focused on the big-picture. She was right...once the furniture and accessories were in place, the gray walls weren't as dreary. I also loved when Ryan pointed out that no matter how badly Primarius screwed up, Matchstick would always be worse. That was particularly true last night.

Speaking of screw-ups, I'm not quite sure how much blame to place on Bethenny for last night's loss. As Martha pointed out, she did a great job picking out the furniture, especially since she had only eight minutes to make up her mind. Yes, she was responsible for making sure the furniture was delivered on time, but Leslie made that nearly impossible to pull off by wasting so much time in the beginning.

Matchstick did show some potential last night. When the contractor asked them to start painting at midnight, they pulled together (except for Dawn, of course). For once, Jim shut his mouth and focused on getting the job done. I was also impressed by Leslie's brave presentation to the Westin execs. Talk about faking it!

I was hoping Matchstick would rally now that Dawn is gone, but it looks like Jim's going to go off the rails during next week's challenge. Maybe the team is just destined to fail. I guess we'll find out soon enough.